HDMI 1.3 Debuts on PS3

HDMI 1.3 gives us several things that previous versions did not. First off, there’s advanced audio codec support for Dolby DD+, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD. These are all formats supported by BD (Blu-ray Disc) and HD DVD. As well, HDMI 1.3 also supports deeper colour depths, which the PlayStation 3 is rumoured to support. Single-link bandwidth increases from 4.95 Gb/s at 165 MHz to 10.2 Gb/s at 340 MHz.

The PS3 will be one of (if not the) first devices to support HDMI 1.3. This is probably one of the reasons the PS3 was delayed until November, because the HDMI 1.3 spec has only now been officially released.

What does that mean for us gamers? It means that the PS3 is ready for the future. HDMI 1.3 has everything you need for proper BD and 1080p support. Both of which are PS3 technologies. So the HDMI 1.3 connection standard gives you everything the PS3 is capable of, unlike previous versions of HDMI. The only problem, of course, is that if the PS3 is the first HDMI 1.3 device, then obviously you won’t yet have other HDMI 1.3 devices to work with it, like a receiver or display. But the PS3 will still work nicely with those things for now. The ultimate reality, though, is to have one HDMI 1.3 cable going from your PS3 to your receiver or pre/pro. And one HDMI 1.3 cable going from your receiver or pre/pro to your HDTV. No more messing around with component, optical, or RCA cables. Ah, that’ll be the day!

So when are HDMI 1.3 receivers and preamp/processors going to support HDMI 1.3? That’s a good question. I haven’t seen a single announcement in this regard. But I’ll keep my ears open and tell you when I see one.

I have two guesses as to what this means. Either it means simply higher resolution RGB encoding that describe more gradations of color OR they encode some type of color space information. RGB values describe a general color but it’s up to the device to determine precisely what shade of color to display. This way, different devices can choose a more precise color shade depending on the capabilities of the actual display hardware.

Regardless of the cables, LCD technology has a fundamentally worse color range than CRT and both of those have a worse color range than film, particularly in darks. No matter how you encode the signal you are limited by the actual display.